Entrepreneurship Management Skill to Succeed

Entrepreneurship is not just a young person’s game. You will hear more about young founders of startups but that is only because it has great sex appeal for the media. Now, more boomers and the generation just behind them are starting their own companies. Whether it’s because jobs are scarce or people have cash to chase their dreams, more entrepreneurs are hanging out their shingles. Here are some other interesting stats on entrepreneurship:

More Americans became entrepreneurs during the Great Recession then at any time during the previous 15 years. (Note: there were a lot of good economic times during this period).

In 2009, business startups reached their highest level in 14 years – even exceeding the number of startups during the peak 1999-2000 technology boom.

An aging population and increasing rate of entrepreneurship among older adults has led to a rising share of new entrepreneurs in the 55-64 age group. This age group represented 14.5 percent of new entrepreneurs in 1996, whereas it represented 22.9 percent of new entrepreneurs in 2010.

A growing immigrant population and rising entrepreneurship rate contributed to a rise in the share of new entrepreneurs that are immigrant, from 13.4 percent in 1996 to 29.5 percent in 2010.

Becoming an entrepreneur is not for the weak-kneed or faint of heart. From taking out the trash to setting pricing policy and making investor pitches, it takes stamina, discipline, a great attitude and whole heap of fortitude. Included in that is the ability to influence and motivate yourself, customers, freelancers or your employees. The latter group will be the ones that will make your product work, help sell it and make your dream of success come true. But, many entrepreneurs have had no management or we’d like to call it, “influencing” training. They might have learned “how to write a business plan” or “how to manage cash flow,” but they haven’t learned “how to manage” themselves or influence others.